Lavinia-Larisa Mociar, 31, claimed £50,000 to support the Harrow-based construction business of which she was a director – but the business had ceased trading when the application was made.

Mociar, originally from Romania, was the sole director of L&M Construct Ltd until the company went into liquidation in November 2021.

But L&M Construct Ltd had stopped trading in October 2019 – a year before Mociar applied for the Bounce Back Loan, which was meant to help support businesses through the pandemic.

Investigators discovered that not only had L&M Construct Ltd not been trading in 2020, but that Mociar had also exaggerated the company’s turnover to claim the maximum £50,000. There had been less than £50 in the company’s bank account when the loan was deposited in October 2020.

Mociar then withdrew more than £50,000 from the company account before the end of 2020 – a further abuse of the scheme, as the money was not being used for the economic benefit of the business.

The company went into liquidation owing around £50,000, including the full amount of the loan.

Mociar has been banned from running a company for 11 years.